FACT SHEET

Antidumping Duty Investigations on Imports of
Polyethylene Retail Carrier Bags from the People’s Republic of China, Malaysia,
and Thailand

On January 20, the Department of Commerce (the Department) announced its preliminary determinations in the antidumping duty investigations on imports of polyethylene retail carrier bags (PRCBs) from the People's Republic of China (PRC), Malaysia, and Thailand. We have preliminarily found that producers/exporters have sold PRCBs in the U.S. market at less than fair value, with margins ranging from 0.12 percent to 122.88 percent. The Department is scheduled to make its final determinations in these investigations in June 2004.

Next Steps: The Department will consider comments from interested parties on its preliminary determinations and evidence on the record in making its final determinations. In each of these investigations, if the Department makes a final determination that imports were sold below fair value, and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) makes a final affirmative determination that imports were materially injuring, or threatening to materially injure, the domestic injury, the Department will issue an antidumping order, and instruct the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits for antidumping duties at the specified rate.

Petitioners: The petition requesting these investigations was filed by the Polyethylene Retail Carrier Bag (PRCB) Committee and its individual members, PCL Packaging, Inc., Sonoco Products Company, Superbag Corp., Vanguard Plastics, Inc., and Inteplast Group, Ltd.

Product Description: The merchandise subject to these investigations is PRCBs which may be referred to as t-shirt sacks, merchandise bags, grocery bags, or checkout bags. The subject merchandise is defined as non-sealable sacks and bags with handles (including drawstrings), without zippers or integral extruded closures, with or without gussets, with or without printing, of polyethylene film having a thickness no greater than .035 inch (0.889 mm) and no less than .00035 inch (0.00889 mm), and with no length or width shorter than 6 inches (15.24 cm) or longer than 40 inches (101.6 cm). The depth of the bag may be shorter than 6 inches but not longer than 40 inches (101.6 cm).

PRCBs are typically provided without any consumer packaging and free of charge by retail establishments (e.g., grocery, drug, convenience, department, specialty retail, discount stores, and restaurants) to their customers to package and carry their purchased products. The scopes of the investigations exclude (1) polyethylene bags that are not printed with logos or store names and that are closeable with drawstrings made of polyethylene film and (2) polyethylene bags that are packed in consumer packaging with printing that refers to specific end-uses other than packaging and carrying merchandise from retail establishments (e.g., garbage bags, lawn bags, trash-can liners).

Imports of the subject merchandise are classified under statistical category 3923.21.0090 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). This subheading also covers products that are outside the scope of these investigations. Furthermore, although the HTSUS subheading is provided for convenience and customs purposes, our written descriptions of the scopes of these investigations is dispositive.

Preliminary Dumping Margins:

Case Calendar:

*These deadlines may be extended under the governing statute.

**An order will be issued only in the event of final affirmative determinations by both the Department and the ITC.

Import Statistics: